Les DeMerle Sound 67: Once in a Lifetime

Straightahead / Mainstream Jazz
premiera polska: 2024-09-27
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Gatefoldowe etui
opis:
Editor's Info
By the time of Spectrum, Les DeMerle's dynamic 1969 United Artists debut album, Les was a known, prodigious young drumming talent who had been wowing audiences through club and TV performances since he was a teen. Unheard at the time was a 1967 recording of his band, Sound 67, which was lost in the shuffle at Atlantic Records, never to see the light of day. The acetates that followed DeMerle around for the last 56 years reveal a 20-year old dynamo who knew talent, showmanship, and the sounds of his times. With a collection of crack arrangements by Frank Foster & Bob Hammer, channeling the latest grooves of Ramsey Lewis and Cannonball Adderley, balanced with sublime pop hits and burning swingers, Les sculpted his 5-piece band into a musical juggernaut. Featuring Randy Brecker on trumpet - in what would have been his first featured recording - and the voice of rock diva, Genya Ravan, Once in a Lifetime is an amazing time capsule find, containing great hints of the career DeMerle would unfurl over the coming decades.

Infinitely adaptable, DeMerle's power and rhythmic elasticity underlines his bold presence and command of modern jazz drumming.
Herb Wong

Dusty Grooves
Rare lost work from funky drummer Les DeMerle - a set of tracks that were recorded for Atlantic Records in 1967, two years before DeMerle's classic Spectrum album - yet which finally appear here for the first time ever! Les is rock-solid, right from the start - definitely one of those younger players really helping to shift the sound of the larger jazz group at the end of the 60s - with fresh arrangements that bring in plenty of currents from soul, and a tight approach to the groove that makes the best of the excellent lineup! The set features work from some younger names who would break big later - including Randy Brecker on trumpet, Terry Plumeri on bass, and Lanny Morgan on alto and flute - as well as a touch of vocals from future rocker Genya Ravan. Titles include "Sticks", "Raunchy Rita", "Feelin Good", "Come Back To Me", "On A Clear Day", "That's Life", and "Signifyin".

Jazz Weekly
Back in 1967, the careers of both drummer Les DeMerle and trumpeter Randy Brecker were just beginning, and this recently discovered album has the two together along with a rotating team of Lanny Morgan/asfl, Alan Gauvin/as, Terry Plumeri-Jack Greg/b and Genya Ravan/voc. DeMarle is snappy on the snares along with Brecker and Gauvin on Jazz Messenger inspired pieces like "Come Back To Me" and the horns dig in on "Sticks" with DeMerle cracking the whip on "Once In A Lifetime" and the team swaying to the gospel of "Signifyin'". Ravanadds poppish vocals to a souful "On A Clear Day" and a preachy "That's Life" while a One off with Rosemary Clooney on the Mike Douglas TV Show delivers a cozy "Takin' A Chance On Love". Sticks in a time capsule that age well.
BY George W Harris

All About Jazz
Drummer Les DeMerle recorded his first album, Once in a Lifetime, when he was a twenty-year-old prodigy in 1967. However, as is sometimes true in the music business, the album was lost in the shuffle at Atlantic Records and sat gathering dust until someone had the good sense to retrieve and release it some fifty-six years later. As the saying goes, better late than never.
To share the front line on this dynamic (mostly) studio date, DeMerle recruited such "young lions" as trumpeter Randy Brecker, alto saxophonists Lanny Morgan (three tracks) and Alan Gauvin (six) to enhance a spirited program which is weakened only by the inclusion of three run-of-the-mill vocals by Genya Ravan (who fared much better in the rock world as "Goldie"). She sings modestly on "Alfie," "On a Clear Day" and "That's Life."
There is one more vocal, on the final track, but that one does more to enhance the album than impede it, as Rosemary Clooney (not at her best but good enough) guests with DeMerle and the Mike Douglas TV Show band on the enduring standard, "Taking a Chance on Love." The penultimate track, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley's "Once in a Lifetime," was also recorded live on the Mike Douglas show. The album opens in high gear as DeMerle's quintet sprints through a high-powered reading of Burton Lane & Alan Jay Lerner's "Come Back to Me." No solos are needed, as DeMerle drives the ensemble relentlessly onward in a manner reminiscent of his role model, the incomparable Buddy Rich.
Another Bricusse & Newley theme, "Feelin' Good," is slower, but only moderately so, its Latin cadence lending itself well to an earnest declamation by Gauvin (Brecker was so youthful he had not yet earned his solo stripes). The other instrumentals are Frank Foster's shuffling "Raunchy Rita," Joe Zawinul's forceful "Sticks" (on which Brecker does solo with Gauvin, pianist Danny Sandridge and bassist Terry Plumeri) and DeMerle's gospel-flavored "Signifyin.'"
In sum, a generally bright and pleasing session hampered to a degree by Ravan's indifferent vocals and a concise thirty-nine-minute playing time. Most persuasive as an early example of young Les DeMerle's remarkable proficiency at the drum set.
BY Jack Bowers

muzycy:
Les DeMerle - drums
Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
(1,2,4,5,7,9):
Alan Gauvin - alto sax
Danny Sandridge - piano
Terry Plumeri - bass
(3,6,8):
Lanny Morgan - alto sax, flute
Mel Olman - piano
Jack Greg - bass
Genya Ravan - vocals
(10):
Les DeMerle - percussion
Rosemary Clooney - vocals
Mike Douglas TV Show Band

utwory:
1. Come Back to Me 2:58
2. Feelin' Good 3:42
3. On a Clear Day 2:18
4. Raunchy Rita 4:16
5. Signifyin' 7:14
6. Alfie 3:51
7. Sticks 3:28
8. That's Life 3:31
9. Once in a Lifetime 4:14
10. Taking a Chance on Love 2:28

wydano: 05 April 2024
more info: www.originarts.com